Bacteria may lead to HIV vaccine

Rhizobium radiobacter. Ever heard of it? It's a bug that causes crown gall disease in plants. So what does that have to do with vaccines against HIV? Canadian researchers have found sugars on the surface of the bacterium that are remarkably similar to those on the surface of the virus, and they think these could provide a map to designing new vaccines that target HIV.

The researchers have found a lipooligosaccharide--a kind of sugar--on the surface of Rhizobium radiobacter that acts as a target for an anti-HIV antibody called 2G12 that usually binds to the HIV surface glycoprotein gp120. The research was published in Chemistry & Biology.